Dawn of the Machine Wars
by supernova22
Summary: based on the short lived toyline. Set after the end of the great war, a downgraded Optimus Prime sets off to find someone dear to him, but finds a returned enemy.


Optimus Prime strolled down the ships ramp and out onto the alien planet, though one would never know he was there. Not out of any kind of stealth, but simply because he did not look like optimus prime. He looked quite different than what the universe knew him to look like.

"prowl, you have command until sandstorm returns from his reconnaissance"

"yes sir, prime" he saluted

Optimus headed off on foot. It felt quite odd to address his young tactical officer, mainly because he shared his name with optimus' departed friend and lieutenant. The two were actually very much alike, eerily so to many. Optimus was left with his thoughts as he walked. It had been three years since the great war ended. Three years since cybertron had been revitalized into a new golden age. Three years since galvatron and the decepticons had vanished among the stars. Optimus had been quite busy since that day. After rebuilding the ruined cities on cybertron, the autobots summoned their people back home; autobots, refugees and colonists, even decepticons, all returned to their revived planet. They eventually established a new government. Optimus knew well that the autobots had no right to rule the plant alone. A council formed from all of the separate parts of their people and allies. Hot rod represented the autobots while ex-decepticon Blitzwing represented his former faction. The eloquent fembot ambassador Windblade represented the unaligned transformers. Marrissa Fairborne of earth and Arcana of Nebulos represent their respective planets, while wreck-gar stands as the representative of the junkions and the other species and planets that are allies of cybertron. Also on the council was the quintesson who had restored Optimus to life during the hate plague crisis.

At that point, optimus knew his role was complete. There was no need of a supreme commander of the autobots anymore. He had his body downgraded and rebuilt into a smaller, more traditional form. No longer was there a need for triple layered battle armor, oversheilds or excessive built in weaponry. He was now much closer in size to the average transformer, and for the first time in millions of years, he had a mouth again rather than a battle mask. For the first time since the beginning of the war, he felt like Orion Pax again. He had finally fulfilled his duty to cybertron, but not his duty to himself. There was still one mystery, one nagging question that had gnawed at his mind and spark for years; where was Elita-One. His true love, his spark-mate since before the war, before they were rebuilt into warriors and even before that fateful day they met megatron. While he and the autobots were on earth, she was one of the leaders of the resistance on cybertron. Contact with her had been lost around the time the cons had regathered their forces back on the planet. She could not have died, as word of it would have reached him quickly, either by autobot or decepticon. Optimus knew megatron to well; if elita had died in battle, megatron would have certainly used the information to emotionally wound him and wasted no time about it. And yet, no such news ever came. He knew she was alive, she had to be, and he would find her, he would find his beloved. That was his mission now.

After endless days of poring through old decepticon security footage, years' worth, he eventually found a clue. A massive push from the cons against the autobot resistance groups still on cybertron had forced many to flee the planet. While Ultra Magnus lead many of them to earth, elita and her squad apparently fled elsewhere. With the estimated trajectory of her ship, he had his first clue to finding her. He once thought he had lost her, he will not let that happen again.

He recruited a small crew to accompany him, who were likewise upgraded or rebuild from their previous forms. As second in command he had Sandstorm, the representative and most prominent member of the people of Paradron, who the autobots had saved from Galvatrons mad machinations, though at the cost of their planet. There was of course prowl, who for whatever reason was as cold and logical as the other, which had given rise to the rumor that he was some kind of clone of the commander. optimus believes he was a young autobot who looked up to and idolized him. And there were the other autobots; flashy scout Mirage, oddball brawler Hubcap and happy-go-lucky medic Hoist. They were something of as motley crew but each had proven their medal a hundred times over during the war. He was proud to have them by his side on this personal quest. This was the first habitable planet in the trajectory her ship had made, so it was the best place to start, though it was very far off from home. After an hour or so, he came to a patch of land that had clearly been disturbed at some point. As he inspected, he recognized some of the debris as cybertronian machinery.

"she was here" he smiled

As he inspected, he got an uneasy feeling about him; the feeling of being watched. He stood up and looked about the open landscape when he spotted something on a not too far off hill. He narrowed his optics to zoom in. It was a land vehicle of some sort, grey and dark red, with very large cannon atop it. He wandered if it was perhaps a native life form. Eventually he raised his hand and waved.

"Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong" he called out the universal greeting

"voice recognition achieved, it is him. Your information was correct"

The mechanical, rhythmic voice of the vehicle reported over a comm channel

"excellent, well done. Keep him "occupied", we are en-route"

"affirmative. Operation: distraction"

The tip of the cannon on the vehicle began to glow with energy and let loose a series of powerful laser blasts.

"slag" optimus cursed

He dove, ducked, slided and dodged the many blasts. They continued to rain down on position when suddenly they stopped. He tensed as the dust kicked up around him settled. He drew his weapon and leveled it with where his approximated the top of the hill to be, yet when the cloud lifted, the hostile vehicle was gone. He spun around, checking ever direction for his enemy, but the world had gone silent, terribly silent. He scanned, moving about with the grace and calculated movement only a warrior who had been fighting for millions of years could have. Suddenly the sky cracked and the roars of jet engines split the air like a hundred thunder storms. He looked up to see four alien jets bearing strait down at him from out of the clouds. He opened fire with everything he had, and so did the jets, raining laser blasts all around him. Some blasts missed, others did not. He took some damage, but nothing fatal, yet. As the y drew closer, three of the jets broke off, but one, a bluish grey one, remained, heading straight for him. He wasn't sure of whether to attempt to stand his ground or get out of the way. Just before the jet would have impacted, it suddenly broke to the side. For a moment he sighed in relief when sudden and overwhelming pain engulfed his body as it was flung meters away. The jet that had broken off at the last second had quickly come around and rammed him from behind. He lay, weak and damaged in the dirt for almost a minute before he found the strength to get up. Luckily, he had kept hold of his blaster. Suddenly there came a sound through the kicked up cloud of dust. It was laughter, but a hauntingly familiar laughter. Through the fading dust he saw the shadow of the jet transform; it was a cybertronian. Though its shape was not familiar to him, that chuckle that continued to emanate from it made his spark go cold.

"it isn't possible" he rearmed to himself as he balanced on his knee

The dirt cloud lifted and the figure finally emerged into clear view.

"by the allspark!" optimus gasped

The overall form was new to his eyes. Like most jet bots, the cockpit sat at the front of its torso and wings on its back. It was primarily greyish blue with its limbs and under armor parts being grey. On its right arm sat two long blade-like panels, at the base was the weapons energy source indicating the device was some sort of cannon. But most prominent, in optimus' eyes, was its head. That so recognizable flat topped grey helmet, that face, that smirk and those burning red optics. There was no denying it.

"megatron!" optimus spat out

"optimus, my friend, how good to see you again"

"how, how is this possible"

"I am so sure you would like to know…" he smirked

"aaaah, it seems you had the same idea of getting back to old looks as I did. Such a youthful new look prime, seems a bit prideful doesn't it. ooooh Look at us optimus, it's like we're so young again back at the start of the war. It's just like old times, isn't it?"

"enough monologueing, what happened to your upgraded form? Had you not been reborn as galavtron?

"whats that matter prime, dont you like my new look? Though I suppose in some ways it is an old look as well. It seems I am not the only one who wanted to "look younger" megatron laughed

Optimus knew he could not show his pain, his weakness, not to megatron, never to him. He stood up and slowly walked forward.

"eheheh, don't get any ideas my dear optimus. As I assume you know, this is not a friendly reunion where we put aside or differences and shake hands"

"you forget I know you as well as you know me megatron. I would NEVER expect that from you"

Megatron frowned at the defiance optimus showed, even though he had expected it. Suddenly there was the sound of thrusters as the other three jets approached and transformed, surrounding optimus, soon joined by the ground vehicle. As it transformed, like the others, its appearance was new to him, yet its design, its features were familiar.

"soundwave?"

"affirmative optimus prime" soundwave responded

In addition to his greatly altered appearance, soundwaves voice was also a bit new. It still had the same mechanized monotone, but now sounded like it had musical, rhythmic undertone. He now also stood a good head taller than megatron. Optimus turned to look at the other decpeticons, there were two nearly identical jets, both being very similar in design to megatron. One was primarily white with yellow helmet and the other was mostly a dark olive green with a red helmet. Then there was the fifth and largest of the group. A titan of a jet who looked as if megatrons head would only reach the center of his chest.

"quite impressive, wouldn't you same prime. At long last my body reflects my inner power" came a familiar high pitched voice

"st…starscream?!"

"of course, who else would it be in this powerful frame"

"and don't forget thundersracker and skywarp of course" megatron smiled

Optimus turned to the other two jets.

"I believed you to have perished"

"it's a…long story" thunderctacker, who was the greenish jet, frowned

"Alright megatron, explain. You have me surrounded and out gunned. I'm at your mercy. The least curtesy you could show your mortal enemy is an explanation for what has happened to all of you. I sense there is more to this than just upgrades."

"hehehe, very well optimus, out of respect for the soon to be dead, and our long history, I will enlighten you of our…circumstances leading up to this moment…"

"as you already know, after our last battle on earth, during which I would like to mention I already ended you once, I was reformatted as galvatron by unicron, as was skywarp and thundercracker"

Optimus turned to look at the other two jets, studying them and suddenly the revelation struck him.

"cyclonus and scourge, they were you"

The two merely nodded, keeping their blasters trained on him.

"ANYWAY, when last we saw each other, you had yet again thwarted my scheme, robbed me of my ultimate victory and left me and my army to drift through space, along with zarak and those wretched nebulons. I resolved to plunder other worlds of their energy and resources and rebuild the decepticons as a new mighty empire, at task which was hindered by that arrogant meat sack zarak, who sought to instill lordship of then nebulons over the decepticons. They actually believed themselves superior to us, to ME! That would not stand and soon, not more cooperation would be tolerated and when we landed on a distant planet, battle soon broke out. We were of course victorious and slaughtered those filthy creaturs, though with some casualties, the nubulon headmasters had had the foresight to tie their live functions to those of the deceptions they had forcefully bonded with, and so, we lost some of our on troops in killing the nebulons. Stupidly unnecessary yes, but a reasonable loss. Unfortunately, either due to betrayal or the ridiculous belief that we had perished in battle, the other decepticons left in scorponok for parts unknown.

"their location is known, they returned to cybertron to live in peace"

"cowards, traitors! When I have finished with you they will feel my wrath"

"speaking of finishing megatron"

"so impatient optimus, are you so eager to hear the rest and meet your end? Regardless, myself, cyclonus, scourge and soundwave had been left on the alien planet. As we explored, we found that the remote planet already had so familiar occupants, those wretched squids, the Quintessons. They aldo had taken in a very unpleasant guest"

Optimus already knew the answer and looked over his shoulder,

"starscream"

"indeed prime" he cackled

"after my revival I looked into the records of recent events which indicated your alliance, resurrection and predictable betrayal of unicron"

"yes, he restored my body, but I was left fleeing through space from the wrath of my former comrades. I managed to escape them and after some time came across that planet, which had already seen some form of civilization. I made myself at home and started planning my grand return when to planets previous tenants returned. The distant world had been a backup base for the quints, which they then fled to in order to escape the ravages of the Hate Plague. I "convinced" them to ally with me, and soon their efforts bore a great fruit. A new device that could reformat and strengthen me more than ever"

"that is when we discovered this traitorous scum and learned of his schemes. I realized they were not all than farfetched; it was even brilliant, especially when applied to a true warrior like me. It's not like he could disagree, we had him terribly outgunned and outnumbered, especially when those cowardly squids fled at our very arrival. We forced the remaining scientists to prepare the procedure and we entered the chamber. It was incredible prime, so much power coursing through my circuits, our sparks felt like burning stars. Cyclonus, scourge and I were both restored to our previous selves and upgraded.

"it was one hell of an experience" skywarp chuckled

"if by that you mean physically, emotionally and spiritually painful, then yes" thundercracker added lowly

"Rebuilt, restored and more powerful than ever, we set out to reclaim or empire and former glory. We happened upon a wandering junkion ship and decided to have some enjoyment and test our new abilities…by slaughtering every one of those wretched inbred junk piles" megatron grinned madly

Optimus clenched his fists and lowered his head

"you're a monster megatron"

"I am a superior power optimus, and weaker creatures always cast those greater then themselves in a negative light. And oh how happy was I to look through the ships records and find a report mentioning the optimus prime has left cybertron with a small crew on some silly errand"

"I am not on some silly errand" optimus growled

Megatron tensed, as did the other cons. There was a seriousness, and tone in the primes voice that unnerved them. Whatever he was doing was clearly very important to him.

"what are youn doing out here prime?"

Megatron started to pace, and optimus moved to match him, as they circled each other, staring into each other's optics.

"that's none of your business megatron"

"fine, it matters not, as you will not live to finish it"

Megatron leveled his weapon with his nemesis, who didn't even flinch.

"I would have waited an eternity for this, good bye optimus prime"

Suddenly a hail of laser fire engulfed the deceptiocns. Optimus took the opportunity to draw his weapon and quickly fire a few full power shots. One hots its mark on megatrons shoulder, while the other found its mark in starscream chest. They were the two most dangerous enemies and he need to weaken them . He looked with a smile to the source of the oncoming fire; it was his team. His plan had worked, I prodding megatron, he gained valuable information, but also killed time. He knew when he failed to check in with them as planned they would come searching for him, and they didn't disappoint. he fell back to join his crew and they took cover, as did the cons and they continued to trade fire.

"enough, time to end this" megatron growled

He charged his arm cannon and fired on the autobots' rocky cover, which exploded, sending the autobots across the ground. As the autobots struggled to get up and recover, the decpetiocns rose from their cover and charged their weapon to full power.

"time to and this, for good" starscream smirked

"yessssss" megatron growled

"you're right about that!" came a sudden female voice

A silhouette appeared on the hill behind them and before the cons could even turn around it opened fire on them. They all received wounds and scattered. Caught off guard and unhappy with the turn of the tide, megatron transformed into his get mode.

"decepticons, retreat"

Soundwave, skywarp and thundercracker gladly obliged

"megatron you cowa…"

Starscream belligerence was interrupted by his being showered with fire from bother directions. Overwhelmed, he to transformed. There were many benefits to his larger size and strength besides his being able to take slightly more damage than his comrades. He flew low so a claw from his underbelly could latch onto soundwave vehicle mode and carried him off with the other cons.

"I swear to the pit prime, a thousand hells await you! You cannot escape my wrath forever, and I'll make sure of that" megatron cried out as the cons disappeared on the horizon.

The autobots regained themselves and turned to their savior, who descended to greet them. Optimus' eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Standing before them was a bulky yet still slim and feminine metallic pink bot who stood about as tall as optimus.

"greeings fellow au…"

She cut herself off mid-sentence as she caught sight of optimus. After long minutes of just looking at each other in shock they started a slow walk forward which turned into a full sprint. As they drew closer, they leapt into each other's arms and wrapped themselves in a passionate embrace. Neither wanted to let go, their chests pressed together, each feeling the warmth of the others spark. She pulled away just enough to place her lips on his and they enjoyed the first loving kiss they had shared in stellar cycles. He leaned his head down to touch their foreheads together.

"elita, I…I thought I would never see you again"

"I knew, I knew…I knew you would find me"

"what happened to you"

"we were forced to leave cybertron when the decpeticons gained too much ground. We planned on joining you on earth, but after we checked various off world outposts. We eventually stopped here when…" she trailed off

"when what?" optimus asked, with the other autobots leaning in from behind to hear as well

"we…received the report that you had…died"

"oh, yes" optimus had no way to respond

"I didn't believe it was true, I couldn't, until pictures of your burial in the autobot Mausoleum. I just, I lost all hope, all will to fight on. I just wanted to be alone, to make it go away. I chose to stay, to remain here, alone"

"you are no longer alone, we are together again, at long last, my love we can go home together"

"thank you, all of you. mirage, hauler, it's so good to see you again. And…?"

"I am sandstorm of pardron, pleasure to finally meet you ma'am"

"the pleasure is mine sandstorm"

"im hubcap, hi"

"and you are…prowl"

"yes, but not that one"

Elita went to speak then stopped, she looked back to optimus who simply shrugged. She looked back and forth between them a few times in confusion before continuing.

"optimus my dear, you look so…so different, almost younger, it's strange but good, perhaps I should do similar when the war is over"

"my dear it is over, cybertron has been to restored to it former glory"

"truly, thank the matrix, but megatron…?"

"is a relic of a conflict that has ended, he has no army, no resources, no weapon but his hate. We shall end his threat and return home together"

"oh opt…"

Suddenly the earth shook as a fire ball erupted in the distance.

"what was that?!" mirage wondered

"I believe that was our ship" prowl said matter of factly

"blast megatron, he seeks to trap us here" sandstorm moaned

"fear not friends, my outpost home is nearby, we can use it as base until we the decepticons are dealt with and we find a way off planet:

"we will soon stop megatron and return home, together" optimus smiled as he held her hand

As the sun set on their first day of a new war of the machines, the autobots transformed and drove off to prepare for a new day.


End file.
